HELP! Is this clay marring or scratches? (time an issue!)

Mk23

Mk23

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I have clayed my car many times before and have never seen marring to this extent (if it is marring). I just finished claying this area and there are either scratches or marring now there:


IMG_4898_edited-1-1.jpg


If this is marring, how can I get rid of it? I tried going over it again with clay, tried going over it with quick detailer. If it is scratches I'll be making a trip to find some polish and try and get it out... :(

Any help would be appreciated.


P.s. Am in the process of claying my whole car, so the quicker the response the better.

:help:
 
Was it there before? Claying shouldn't scratch the car that bad unless little rocks stuck on your clay. Polishing my DA or by hand should take that right off.

When you were claying did you apply a lot of force when rubbing in that area?
 
slickooz said:
Was it there before? Claying shouldn't scratch the car that bad unless little rocks stuck on your clay. Polishing my DA or by hand should take that right off.

When you were claying did you apply a lot of force when rubbing in that area?
Click to expand...

I applied slight pressure, not real hard. And it was not there before I clayed it.
Strange thing is it didn't do it anywhere else... and I applied the same amount of pressure as the other places.

*edit*

What kind of polish could I find somewhere locally? Like autozone or something. And will a microfiber cloth work as the polishing cloth? Need to try and get this out.
 
Just clay the whole car and when your finish, polish the car with DA or with hand and it should remove it.
 
Dual Action Polisher made by Griot's, PC, Meg. You can always work the polish with MF, but you will get faster and better results with a DA or rotary.

Am I correct? Any pro can chime in here?
 
slickooz said:
Dual Action Polisher made by Griot's, PC, Meg. You can always work the polish with MF, but you will get faster and better results with a DA or rotary.
Click to expand...

What color pad? Have a Porter cable but am fairly new to it. Also, what brand polish? I would have to go buy some somewhere locally.
 
I would always start with less aggressive. A white pad would work best with Meg 205. If you don't have it on hand, I would stop by local store and get both Meg Ult compound and Swirlx. Start with SwirlX and you don't like result move to Meg Ult compound.
 
If it is just minor marring you can easily remove it by hand with a MF. I fold the MF into a small square/ball/what ever you want to call it and WALA - you have an applicator pad..... apply polish to MF and massage it in with the MF with medium pressure... then lightening up till you can rapidly buff it out with no pressure. No machine is needed for a small amount of marring in a small isolated location.
 
Meg's Scratch X or Ultimate Compound (stronger) will remove the marring and you can find them over the counter.
 
Thanks a ton guys, going to pick up the scratch X and Meg Ultimate Compound now. Will clay whole car and try the polish once done, will include photos of said results too.


Nice response time too! :xyxthumbs:
 
Mk23 said:
Thanks a ton guys, going to pick up the scratch X and Meg Ultimate Compound now. Will clay whole car and try the polish once done, will include photos of said results too.


Nice response time too! :xyxthumbs:
Click to expand...

If you can find a polishing pad, some AutoZone stores carry them, buy one and cut it up into 4 pieces. A microfiber will work but a polishing pad will have more bite.
 
Okay, what am I doing wrong here, I am getting marring on about half the areas I clay. I am applying less pressure and it's not as significant as the marring in the pic but it's there. Any ideas?
 
Is the clay dirty? Also, what kind of lube are you using? Are you using enough lube? Finally, have you used this brand of clay with this lube before, or did you change something in your process?
 
A couple of things to watch out for. Make sure the surface of the car is clean. Clean it right before you clay. Do not try to to big of an area at a time as the surface may dry to soon causing the clay to stick and mar. Clay in the shade or in the garage out of the direct sunlight. If it is a hot day you may have to use more liquid spray. I never put pressure on the clay. Let it glide across the surface with very little pressure. Turn the clay often so you are working with a clean peice. After you clay a section it should be smooth and clear. Hope this helps.
 
Cruiser57 said:
A couple of things to watch out for. Make sure the surface of the car is clean. Clean it right before you clay. Do not try to to big of an area at a time as the surface may dry to soon causing the clay to stick and mar. Clay in the shade or in the garage out of the direct sunlight. If it is a hot day you may have to use more liquid spray. I never put pressure on the clay. Let it glide across the surface with very little pressure. Turn the clay often so you are working with a clean peice. After you clay a section it should be smooth and clear. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

+1

Did you finish? What are the results?
 
slickooz said:
+1

Did you finish? What are the results?
Click to expand...

Still working on it, got half the car done. Will start letting the clay glide as opposed to applying pressure. Also, I did change the lube where the pic was taken so I'm going back to my old process. Getting less and less marring with less and less pressure, so i think that was a problem too. Thanks a bunch guys. :xyxthumbs:

*edit*

Still getting a lot of marring... Seems it only happens when I reshape the clay bar to reveal a clean side. If it's not perfectly flat then it marrs the paint... Don't usually have this problem when I clay, not sure what is going on...
 
Could this have anything to do with my halogen lights? Maybe too much heat or something? This is so weird, I never have had this happen...
 
hard to tell from the pic you posted but to me, it looks like it could be clay smeared on the surface.

what clay bar?

what lube?
 
Sounds more to me like you have a contaminated clay bar - ever dropped it on the ground?
 
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